Free Republic

A Golfing president ? More than that. At least Nero fiddled while Rome burned , and all Obama can do is waltz around the links like the prancing psychopomp he is. Its not serendipitous. This is the Obama VICTORY dance, he has destroyed America. ISIS commits genocide and Obama has no intention of stopping them. He has encouraged them while making a few PR gestures to placate the critics at hiome, and now America is entertained bt the filmed decapitation of Foley, an American journalist who was naïve enough to believe he could travel without a gun in the ME....

In a single column, a veteran police officer has catapulted himself into the national debate over the death of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me,” the Washington Post headline blares. The piece was written by Sunil Dutta, a 17-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. “Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you,” he wrote. Dutta...

Will Russia plunge into chaos and darkness after President Vladimir Putin leaves? While it's understandable that propaganda-brainwashed Russians might truly think so, it comes as a surprise when U.S. analysts repeat the same idea. "Knowing the weakness of the liberal opposition and the strength of Putin's security apparatus, it's hard not to fear that his replacement will make us long for the days of his thuggishly predictable unpredictability," warns Julia Ioffe on The New Republic. "If the U.S. gets rid of Putin they will have no ability to control what happens next," threatens Mark Adomanis on Forbes. Such pessimistic estimates,...

Don't believe the hype that insurance companies are getting squeezed on Obamacare. That's the message from one of the architects of the president's health-care law. "All of these companies are expanding greatly in the exchanges," Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, former special advisor on health policy, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday. "Their revenues are up. Their profits are up. Their stocks are up. They're not suffering because of" Obamacare. Last week, Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini appeared on the program, saying the insurer priced its 600,000 Obamacare customers who tend to be older and sicker at lower margins. Emanuel, vice...

President Barack Obama drew a diplomatic line at the first ever U.S-Africa summit at the White House this week by not inviting Zimbabwe’s brutal dictator Robert Mugabe. But the guest list still included several other African leaders with only slightly better human rights records. The White House promoted the summit as the largest-ever gathering of African leaders in the United States, with more than 50 countries represented. The red carpet was rolled out for Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who shot or jailed virtually all his political opponents, Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh, who threatened to ‘cut off the head’ of...

Jonathan Alter at the Daily Beast has an idea that will infuse the president’s “economic patriotism” rhetoric with some bite: Compel companies to take “loyalty oaths” to prove their patriotism. You may find this suggestion a little creepy, maybe even a little fascistic; but Alter says that “it’s time for red-blooded Americans to take matters into our own hands.” And by taking the matter into “our” hands, Alter means that President Obama would unilaterally bar any company that practices “inversion” – corporate merging with foreign firms to save on U.S. tax bills – from doing business with the federal government....

In Campbell, Wisconsin, political retaliation has sunk to a new low. Police Chief Tim Kelemen just closed a plea deal for using local Tea Party leader Greg Luce’s personal information to sign him up for gay dating websites, pornography websites, and – the icing on the cake – HealthCare.gov. These actions could fall under the definition of identity theft, which carries serious penalties. Depending on the severity, the fraudulent use of another’s identifying information could earn up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Why did the police chief flagrantly break the public’s trust? Over a political disagreement....

Feds Confiscate 40 Land Rovers Over VIN Controversy Federal agency seize 40 old Land Rovers, claiming that they are actually newer vehicles. Forty Land Rover SUVs have been taken away from owners around the country by armed federal agents descending on private property with overwhelming force. Agents for Homeland Security Investigations last month wrapped up the seizure of forty vehicles pursuant to a sealed warrant issued in May. The agency insists that there were discrepancies with the VIN numbers for cars imported by Aaron Richardet at Patterson Auto Sales in Wilmington, North Carolina, and that the Land Rovers violated Environmental...

Putin’s ‘Russian Spring’ Idea was Invented by Russian Fascists in 1920s Staunton, July 30 – Commentators in Moscow and the West ever more frequently draw parallels between Vladimir Putin’s ideas and actions and those of fascist regimes in the first part of the 20th century, but few have focused on the fact that one of the Kremlin leader’s most-cherished ideas, that of the ‘Russian Spring,’ was invented by a Russian fascist in the 1920s. In a blog post, Pavel Pryannikov corrects that gap, pointing out that “the ‘Russian Spring’ in fact is not an invention of the present time” but...

LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- Imagine being ordered to go against your religious beliefs, and if you refuse, you could be arrested, fined, or sued. That happened to the Christian owner of a Colorado bakery who now must make wedding cakes for gay couples. However, the owner is standing his ground and his action is inspiring people around the world. Discriminating Accusation The sign on the door reads "Celebrating 20 Years of Great Cakes!" For two decades, Masterpiece Cakeshop has created art in the form of baked goods that keeps customers coming back. From cookies and cupcakes to signature cakes, Jack Phillips...

CONSTITUTION-FREE ZONES: Lots of Americans are getting upset about being detained by armed border patrol agents not on the border but miles away from the border. Some push back, sometimes with violent results.

How far left was I? So far left my beloved uncle was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in a Communist country. When I returned to his Slovak village to buy him a mass card, the priest refused to sell me one. So far left that a self-identified terrorist proposed marriage to me. So far left I was a two-time Peace Corps volunteer and I have a degree from UC Berkeley. So far left that my Teamster mother used to tell anyone who would listen that she voted for Gus Hall, Communist Party chairman, for president. I wore a...

New data shows the White House has painted a false picture of the Central American migration by hiding a huge spike in “family units” who are illegally crossing the Texas border.The data, which was dumped by the U.S. border patrol late Friday afternoon, shows that inflow of youths and children traveling without parents has doubled since 2013, to 57,525 in the nine months up to July 2014.But the number of migrants who cross the border in so-called “family units” has spiked five-fold to 55,420, according to the border patrol’s data, which came out amid a storm of news about the...

President Barack Obama is replaying his turnout-boosting 2012 contraception fight against Christian groups by staging a pre-election fight over religion and new legal rights for gays.He’s expected to sign a regulation on July 21 that would force religious contractors to give up federal funding if they don’t submit to progressive claims that homosexuality and heterosexuality are morally equivalent, and that there’s no connection between biology and good sexual behavior.The regulation creates that fight by banning grants to groups that are reluctant to hire gay, lesbian and cross-dressing or transgender people who contradict the groups’ religious beliefs about sex.The regulation doesn’t...

Hillary Clinton thanked the Republican establishment and its big business allies for taking on the Tea Party and defeating conservative candidates like Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's June runoff.

We are fast becoming a nation of Pavlik Morozovs. Little Pavlik, you may recall, was the 13-year-old subject of a dubious Soviet story about how a young boy’s loyalty to the state trumped his love for his parents. Pavlik was supposedly witness to his father, the chair of his local Soviet, giving aid to enemies of the people. The boy turned his own father in to Stalinist authorities, the story went. Enraged by the betrayal, Pavlik was killed by his own family and was posthumously dubbed a martyr for socialist values. Though the tale was later proven to have been...

From small businesses on Main Street to the halls of Congress and the state legislatures, concern is mounting over Operation Choke Point, a coordinated effort among the Department of Justice (DOJ) and bank regulators to cut off banking services for a variety of legal, state-regulated businesses. This week alone, there are three congressional hearings on Operation Choke Point, hearings which will hopefully bring an end this misguided operation. Operation Choke Point is one of the most dangerous programs I have experienced in my 45 years of service as a bank regulator, bank attorney and consultant, and bank board member. Operating...

Companies must hire more people, pay their taxes, participate in Obamacare, and support the Government at all costs.  That’s the strong message that President Obama has been spouting for years, and the answer-men and women with whom he’s surrounded himself are simply his bullhorns. …I’m going to reduce the deficit in a balanced way.  We’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts.  We can make another trillion or trillion-two, and what we then do is ask for the wealthy to pay a little bit more… …look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there...

Democrats endorse arrest powers: “I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day” Pelosi said just days ago > CNN, New York Times also endorse the House’s power to arrest   WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Stockman Thursday filed a resolution directing the House Sergeant-At-Arms to arrest former IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations Unit Lois Lerner on charges of contempt of Congress. “Asking the Justice Department to prosecute Lois Lerner for admittedly illegal activity is a joke.  The Obama administration will not prosecute the Obama administration.  How much longer will the House allow itself to be mocked?  It is...

If those who are for big-business abortion are willing even to kill the unborn, who thinks that they will display the human decency of manners?Moreover, we just don’t know what has transpired in the lives of some people who, in public, so violently react to pro-life demonstrations.From Life News: Abortion Activist Attacks Pro-Lifers: “No Uterus, No Right to Talk. Understand Mother F—–?”Pro-life activist Seth Drayer was physically attacked today while leading a group of pro-life students in sharing the pro-life message in downtown Columbus, Ohio today.The video shows a woman in a Burger King shirt attacking the pro-lifers.She says, ““You’re...